Tags, labels or signs are commonly provided at the front of steel merchandise-containing shelves in supermarkets and the like to present bar codes or other inventory control information to the store employees and/or to present pricing, announce sales or provide other information regarding the products displayed on the shelves to the customer. Adhesive-backed labels can be affixed directly to the front surface of the shelf. While adhesive-backed labels may be secured to surfaces of varying dimensions, they are difficult to remove or replace when different merchandise is to be displayed on the shelf, and generally leave behind an unsightly adhesive residue. The cost of such labels is not only higher because of the adhesive, the labor costs associated with removing and replacing such labels significantly increases the overall expense of such systems.
Non-adhesive labels are less expensive to manufacture; additionally, they can generally be installed and removed much more readily. For that purpose, most merchandise shelves include a generally C-shaped price channel along the front edge with upper and lower forwardly-directed flanges or lips adapted to accommodate snap-in labels or label or sign holders designed to receive and display non-adhesive paper or plastic labels or signs containing inventory, pricing or other such information or data. The appearance of shelving provided with label holders adapted to removably receive non-adhesive labels is dramatically improved and the cost of providing such merchandise information is reduced.
Depending upon the type of shelving, the price channel configuration may be different. Although the size of most price channels is similar, no two shelves are exactly alike. Thus, the height of the channel formed between the upper and lower flange members may vary because of manufacturing tolerances, even on different shelves of the same shelf system. Moreover, the configuration of the front edge portions of shelving provided by different manufacturers may vary significantly. While many merchandise shelves currently manufactured for the U.S. market have prominent C-channels defined in their front edge by downwardly turned upper lips and upwardly turned lower lips, the pockets formed by the upper and lower flanges on the shelf front edge of some older shelving still in common use are not so distinct, either or both flanges being more perpendicular to the shelf edge. The former design is typified by the "Lozier" shelf and the latter design by the "Streator" shelf.
Various attachments are currently on the market for adapting a C-channel to removably receive and display non-adhesive information-containing labels to a consumer. In most versions, one or more rearwardly extending flexible legs are provided with portions designed to snap into the upper and lower flanges of the C-channel. While such attachments may provide only upper and lower channels to receive and retain a paper or plastic label, much like the C-channel on the shelf, they commonly include a main body or backing panel and a hingedly attached transparent cover which together define a pocket between them for reception of a non-adhesive label or sign or sign holder. In some circumstances, a transparent label cover can be snapped directly onto a C-channel over the lower edge, providing a pocket for a non-adhesive label between the cover and the C-channel itself.
While each of the foregoing systems are useful, they each have limited application and one or more disadvantages. For example, while the label holders with rearwardly extending legs can accommodate C-channels of somewhat varying dimensions, they are generally designed to fit between the upper and lower flange elements of a particular shelving system and have little versatility.
The snap-on covers rely heavily on their ability to mount on and pivot about the lower edge of a price channel placing great stress on the connection, particularly if the design of the shelf is somewhat unusual or if the lower edge of the channel is bent. Moreover, since the covers must be transparent in order for the information on the label to be viewed therethrough, any unsightly portion of the C-channel not hidden by a label is visible to passersby.
A label holder for attachment to price channels which does not rely primarily on engagement with the merchandise shelf channel flanges for support is disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/841,680 filed Apr. 30, 1997, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein in its entirety. While this system provides more versatility, the attachment to the shelf is somewhat less secure, limiting its potential.
Thus, while some of the prior art label holders can solve certain of the problems associated with devices of this type, label holders that can be securely fitted to, but readily removed from, shelves having front faces or C-channels of slightly different height or configuration, particularly label holders adapted to accommodate both the different height and the different configuration of the Lozier and Streator-type shelf systems, are not currently available. A particular problem with prior art attempts to provide a more universal or versatile construction, is the difficulty in facilitating the attachment and the removal of such label holders within the tight fit afforded by the more closely spaced and prominent pockets formed between the upper and lower lips on a Lozier shelf, while insuring that such label holders are not inadvertently dislodged from engagement with the less distinctive and more widely spaced channels formed on the front face of a Streator shelf, particularly when the transparent cover is pulled forwardly to insert or remove a non-adhesive label or sign in the label holder pocket.